The All-Night Express (ANX), weeks following their Tag Team championship victory at ROH’s Best in the World, have been stripped from the titles. Ring of Honor’s decision was made after Kenny King’s departure from the company, as he was clearly seen wrestling live for TNA’s Impact Wrestling TV show. And despite King stating that he would come back to ROH to wrestle matches to drop the belts, ROH has declined to do further business with him.

Kenny King, who’s contract with ROH expired on June 24, 2012, wrestled for TNA on July 5 in spite of a verbal agreement made with ROH, in which King was permitted to weigh his options with other promotions on the condition that he didn’t wrestle for them. King had a meeting in Orlando on July 3, which was within the scope of his agreement, but when he contacted an ROH official on the morning of the live Impact TV taping, he was not given permission as it violated the agreement. King’s response was that the agreement seemed fair at the time, but others have told him otherwise, so he didn’t intend to honor the agreement.

Kenny King took a risk in jumping ship to TNA while burning bridges with ROH. Especially after Ring of Honor decided to place the belts on ANX at Best in the World. But that’s the life of a professional wrestler, because unlike the “independent contractor” status in the WWE, Kenny King, and all independent wrestlers, are independent on their career paths.

After defeating Lars Only to qualify for TNA X Division championship tournament at Destination X, Kenny King was seen talking backstage to Austin Aries, telling him that he wishes to follow in his footsteps. Aries, who was released from Ring of Honor in October 2010 due to cutbacks, worked his way through Dragon Gate USA and Evolve before returning to TNA in June 2011. In one year’s time Aries went from a guy fighting for a contract to the top guy on a national stage, so for Kenny King to want the same for himself isn’t selfish. Kenny saw an opportunity and he took it.

However, Kenny King wasn’t the only one stripped of the tag team titles, Rhett Titus was stripped as well. Titus, who debuted in Ring of Honor in 2006, started teaming with King in 2009. And his partnership with King was fulfilled at Best in the World, but after 16 days, Rhett is without his championship.

So if anyone should be upset at Kenny’s departure, it’s Rhett Titus. But does Kenny King feel bad about that? Would Shawn Michaels have become the Legend that he is if he didn’t sever ties with his tag team partner? That’s the business of professional wrestling, if Kenny’s decision to wrestle for TNA makes him millions of dollars, then good for him.

Kenny King, much like Austin Aries, deserves to showcase his skills on a bigger stage.

That’s it for this post, feel free to subscribe to this blog if you like what you read and how it was written. If you love the writing so much and wish to propose a writing job, then you can submit all serious proposals at WrestlingTimesX@gmail.com. Follow me on the twitter @WrestlingTimesX.

Tonight, Ring of Honor Wrestling returned to New York City for Final Battle at the world’s famous Hammerstein Ballroom. The year-end event, which as Kevin Steen pointed out in September, always takes place in New York City. Perhaps it’s because New York houses some of the most passionate – explicit – wrestling fans in the world.

Final Battle 2011 featured a main event worthy of the name as Eddie Edwards embarked on his rematch clause against the defending ROH World champion Davey Richards. The story behind these two American Wolves is they first met on opposite sides to crown Ring of Honor’s first Television champion. Though many believed Richards would get the win, Edwards not only surprised the ROH hopefuls, but Richards as well when he walked out the Television champion. Months afterwards, at last year’s Final Battle, Richards failed in his bid for the World Title against then-champion Roderick Strong. Three months after his failed bid, Edwards defeated Strong for the World Title — that Richards had been striving for — in his first World Title opportunity. That’s when things started to heat up and ROH producer Jim Cornette goaded Richards and Edwards to compete against one another at Best in the World. Richards refused, but Edwards demanded the match and vowed he would relinquish the World Title if he did not get his match. Best in the World saw these two wolves go one on one for a second time, but this time Richards came out on top as the new ROH World Champion.

Fast-forward to tonight, Edwards was so set on regaining his championship that he enlisted the services of UFC Hall of Fame legend Dan Severen. Well into the match, after both had taken hellacious beatings from the other, Edwards applied Severen’s Beast Choker (Dragon sleeper with body scissors). The Richards loyalists held on as their champion was fading into unconsciousness, but Richards reversed the hold into the ankle lock. Both men seemed to have the other’s number throughout the course of the match. Edwards proving his resiliency to the point Richards on two back-to-back situations was more than willing to accept a count-out victory. But in the end, it was a series of effective shoot kicks to the head of Edwards that secured Richards his World championship.

However, aside from Richards pointing out the obvious to the Hammerstein crowd, Edwards is tough as hell and has a lot of heart because he proved it in the ring, Kevin Steen reminded New York that Final Battle marked his return to Ring of Honor, and that in 2012, he will become the World champion and take Ring of Honor hostage. In a No-disqualification bout against former friend/mentor Steve Corino, Kevin Steen was reinstated to Ring of Honor by way of steel chairs, steel barricades, some broken tables, and a package piledriver. With his return brought out his old nemesis, the man who drove Steen out of Ring of Honor at last year’s Final Battle, “The Generic Luchador” El Generico. The two former tag team partners shared some closed fists, but Steen drove Generico onto the broadcast table with a package piledriver.

In a strange turn of events, Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) turned heel by the Hammerstein crowd filled with Briscoe Brothers sympathizers. The Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark) released a YouTube blog entitled “Cosmetically Pleasing” [watch] in which they discussed WWE’s way of hiring talents. Dem Boys were well on their way to getting signed and being paid millions, until they received a notice from John Laurinaitis stating that they would not be hired because they were not cosmetically pleasing enough. Jay and Mark have busted their asses throughout the independents, setting up rings, and setting up chairs. And they posed the question, what have WGTT done to pay their dues? Granted, Haas and Benjamin took ROH by storm at Glory By Honor IX, and went on to win the World Tag Team titles at Honor Takes Center Stage, but The Briscoes have been in Ring of Honor since Day One [watch]. After a hellacious prematch beating from Haas and Benjamin, The Briscoes went through with the match and left New York with their seventh ROH World Tag Team titles.

As for Jay and Mark’s first challengers, The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) earned a future opportunity at the tag gold after winning a tag team gauntlet tournament defeating both Future Shock (Kyle O’Reilly & Adam Cole) and The All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King).

Jay Lethal successfully defended his World Television championship in a three-way elimination match against former TV champ El Generico, and “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett — who was accompanied by his manager “Brutal” Bob Evans and former WWE Diva/Playboy covergirl Maria Kanellis. PSA – Maria [watch]. Mike Bennett attempted a sound heel strategy of “let the two babyfaces tire themselves out and then go in for the easy kill,” but Lethal and Generico did manage to work together at the start before the temptation of being Television champion became too much.

That’s it for this post, feel free to check us out on YouTube – WTX Video Podcast. My buddies and I perform a wrestling video podcast where we talk wrestling, which then leads us into crazy comedy sketches. Support us on YouTube, like us on Facebook at WTXVideoPodcast, and follow me on the twitter @WrestlingTimesX.

With a new Ring of Honor Wrestling program set to air on September 24, 2011 on Sinclair stations, we take a brief look back at Ring of Honor on HDNet. Volume 2 of Ring of Honor Wrestling is headlined by the third match between Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black, who was still trying to position himself as the top guy in the company. This volume also includes the debut of KENTA as he takes on Roderick Strong, and competes in a 6-man tag team match alongside the team of El Generico and Kevin Steen against The American Wolves and Chris Hero. Jerry Lynn defends the ROH World Title against Chris Hero, The American Wolves defend the ROH World Tag Team Titles against Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black, plus much more.

With two hours and thirty-five minutes of intense professional wrestling action, plus twenty-five minutes of bonus matches this is a can’t miss DVD. Not even WrestleMania XXVII, with four-hours of air time, was able to match the length of in-ring action as this Volume packs onto one disc.

Davey Richards pulled off an emotional victory when he finally won the ROH World Title from Eddie Edwards on June 26 at Best in the World. Emotional because wrestling consumed his life to fill the void of not having a family. At Final Battle, what was to be his final wrestling bout, became a waking call for Davey after he failed to ascertain the ROH World Title from Roderick Strong. Not only was he staying in Ring of Honor, but he made a promise to ROH officials and to the fans that the next time he challenged for the belt it would be his last. Then on March 19 at Manhattan Mayhem IV, Eddie Edwards defeated Strong for the belt. Many assumed Davey would be upset because Edwards managed to accomplish what he couldn’t, but he was genuinely happy for Eddie because he sees him as a brother.

Although Eddie Edwards was the World Champion, he couldn’t help but doubt himself. Wanting to prove that he was the best, Edwards challenged Davey Richards to a World Title match with the ultimatum, “If you don’t fight me for this World Championship, I quit.” For the first time in history, the champion challenged the challenger because Eddie felt that he may have been overlooked as part of The American Wolves since Davey is so sharp and focused on what he does in the ring. No one added these harsh stipulations, but themselves because they wanted to prove who indeed was the Best in the World.

When Eddie was caught in the ropes, he shouted at Davey who hesitated to follow-up with a strike. “Just do it!” Davey struck Eddie with a kick to the head. Eddie not only asked for this match, but he asked for Davey at his absolute best so that when it was all said and done, there would be no regrets. Eddie didn’t hold back either, having driven Davey through a ringside table with a double foot stomp. The two exchanged strikes and ankle lock submissions, but Davey overcame with a number of kicks, and before delivering the final blow told Eddie, “You asked for it.”

Mirroring what took place at Manhattan Mayhem, Eddie Edwards this time wrapped the ROH World Title around Davey Richards’s waist after a long embrace. Richards delivered a heart wrenching speech that left him his tears. He looked up and said, “Hey grandma, hey grandpa … I DID IT!”

Steve Corino has been on a road of redemption ever since costing Kevin Steen his Ring of Honor career back at Final Battle. Along with his sponsor Jimmy Jacobs, Corino advocated that Jim Cornette and ROH Officials grant Steen a second chance. The Hammerstein Ballroom erupted when they saw Steen up on the balcony. He was stopped by Cornette and crew from entering the ring and was then tossed out by security. After Corino lost his match to Michael Elgin, Truth Martini and Elgin continued by attacking both Corino and Jacobs until Kevin Steen made the save. Then after much deliberation on the part of Jim Cornette, Steen was able to talk and instead of asking for forgiveness, he cursed out Ring of Honor. “F–K ROH!” Steen turned on both Corino and Jacobs before finally being driven out of the Hammerstein Ballroom by security.

El Generico defeated “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels to earn his first singles title in Ring of Honor. Having scored a non-title victory over Daniels when ROH invaded Canada, El Generico battled for the honor of entering Ring of Honor’s new era as the new ROH World Television Champion. Christopher Daniels, despite ROH not having a television deal for several months, felt he was more qualified as the Television Champion because he was the only one still featured on television via SpikeTV. At a point in the match, The Fallen Angel felt so confident that Generico would not be able to answer the 20-count, he started strapping the belt around his waist. But when Generico broke the count, he hit the Yakuza kick and drove Daniels with a top rope Brainbuster to score the pinfall.

In other bouts at Best in the World, Tommaso Ciampa beat Colt Cabana … Jay Lethal pinned Mike Bennett with a diving elbow drop in respect to Randy Savage … Homicide beat Rhino in a No Holds Barred Street Fight … Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin last eliminated The Kings of Wrestling to retain the ROH World Tag Team Titles in a Four Way Elimination match also involving The All Night Express and Jay and Mark Briscoe.

The dark match, which will be available as a DVD exclusive, was a Dream Tag Team match between Generation Me (The Young Bucks) against the new up-and-comers Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly.

If WWE and TNA are ever in the market to learn how to compose a compelling storyline, they should watch Kevin Steen. His feud with El Generico, which spanned all of 2010, and this segment at Best in the World is entertainment and impeccable storytelling at its finest.

Until next time: Remember to subscribe to Wrestling Times X to receive new posts directly to your e-mail. Share this and all posts. And follow me on Twitter @WrestlingTimesX for quick rants.

Ring of Honor Wrestling presented “Big Bang!” on iPPV from Charlotte, North Carolina featuring two “Match of the Year” contender matches as Tyler Black defended the ROH World Title against Roderick Strong and Austin Aries in a Triple Threat Elimination Match. And Jay and Mark Briscoe defended the ROH World Tag Team Titles against The Kings of Wrestling. This DVD also includes a bonus match: Blue Demon, Jr. and Magno vs. Super Parka and Misterioso.

Welcome back to The Wrestling Times. With last week being the lackluster week that it was in professional wrestling, I decided to turn back the clock to April 3, 2010. On this night, Ring of Honor made their mark in the world of professional wrestling by delivering a glitch-free internet pay-per-view, and delivering two amazing main events. So you know the drill. Let’s discuss–are you ready?–ROH REWIND!

The story surrounding the ROH World Championship was a war of “Who deserved a Title Match?” On the one hand, Austin Aries, who had lost the belt to Tyler Black at the ROH 8th Anniversary Show, was entitled to a rematch, while Roderick Strong was promised a championship match. So, in order to give everyone a fair opportunity, Jim Cornette announced that the Championship Match would be contested under Triple Threat Elimination Rules.

TNA Wrestling may have the right to boast on having some of the biggest names in professional wrestling, but when a Triple Threat Steel Cage Match for its World Title between Sting, Mr. Anderson, and Rob Van Dam lasts no more than eight minutes, they have to wonder whether they made a bum deal. This Three-Way between Black, Strong, and Aries went past the thirty-one minute mark, which tells me that Ring of Honor Wrestling knows what makes a great wrestling match. It’s not signing over-priced, over-hyped, wrestlers relevant a decade or two ago, it’s focusing on those who actually have the talent and endurance to leave it all in the ring. Three unknowns outside the independent circuits created a bigger impact for their promotions, than three “mega-stars” were able to accomplish in the past year-and-a-half.

Cornette had taken extra precaution to make sure no monkey-business took place by having Todd Sinclair officiating inside the ring, and Tommy Young officiate on the outside. Cornette hand-selected Young because he had officiated the majority of “The Dirtiest Player of the Game’s” matches, so he knew all the tricks.

The match was simply incredible. Austin Aries, in his signature pink feather coat, halted the start of the bout with some smack talk to his competitors, and to Tommy Young (not so young). As a heel, there is no one more entertaining and skillful than A-Double. If WWE does not sign him soon, they will seriously miss the boat. Roderick Strong is known as “The Messiah of the Backbreaker” for a reason, because out of no where, his victims fall prey to Death by Roderick or the Half-nelson Backbreaker. Sadly, Tyler Black (currently signed to a WWE developmental contract) had some of the best title defenses in the company’s history, and still received heat from the fans. When Tyler became champion, he became a victim of a heel turn by circumstance.

The other great match was between The Briscoe Brothers against The Kings of Wrestling. This was the night when Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli earned their second championship as a team, and would reign for almost a year. The match concluded after Hero struck Jay with the loaded elbow pad. (Immediately after the 3-count, Jay rushed to the side of the ring and started puking his brains out.) Recently in Pro Wrestling Illustrated, the readers voted for the “Tag Team of the Year,” and the decision went to The Motor City Machine Guns, with The Hart Dynasty and Beer Money Inc. as first and second runner-ups. And way in third runner-up were The Kings of Wrestling. Is this to say that KOW or The Briscoe Brothers are shoddy tag teams? Far from it. The issue was obviously the amount of exposure that TNA and WWE have over ROH. If more people attended ROH live events, and purchased the DVDs, Ring of Honor Wrestling would steal the PWI “Tag Team of the Year” award and runner-up positions. ROH has, undoubtedly, the best tag team division in all of professional wrestling.

Speaking of tag teams, the feud between El Generico and Kevin Steen became serious on this night. For months, since Final Battle 2009, Generico didn’t have the heart to fight back. Steen clearly moved on when he started teaming with his mentor (former AWA, NWA, and ECW Champion) Steve Corino. Generico, with Colt Cabana, challenged Steen and Corino to a tag team bout, and even though it ended in a disqualification, after Steen struck Cabana with a steel chair, the fire was lit in El Generico.

Another gem on this DVD was the Pick 6 Series Match between (5) Kenny King and Davey Richards. King, one-half of The All Night Express, is one of the most athletically gifted talents in Ring of Honor today. (Some have even compared him to Shelton Benjamin.) For those of you unaware of the Pick 6, it is a ranking system of wrestlers eligible to challenge for the ROH World Championship. In this case, Kenny King was ranked number 5, with Richards (unranked) attempting to assume his spot. And assume he did, as Davey Richards defeated King in a classic bout. But it wasn’t all celebration for The American Wolf, as “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels made his return to Ring of Honor, and flat out challenged Richards to a future bout to see who was truly the Best in the World.

Before I end this, I wanted to get one more jab at TNA. The opening contest was Phill Shatter against Zack Salvation. Only in TNA could they take a promising athlete like Phill Shatter (n.k.a. Murphy) and make him into nothing.

Until next time: Remember to please subscribe, tell a friend, phone a friend, add The Wrestling Times to your web browsers’ favorites on your computer and your mobile devices. Follow me on Twitter @WrestlingTimesX for quick rants, which I will be too lazy to post on this site. Oh, and RT everything I say because it’s golden!

Last night was my first time ordering an internet pay-per-view, and I keep reading that this technology is going to be the future. Really? Because when you order pay-per-view via your HD provider, the televised pay-per-views look a million times better than something streamed over the internet. Then again, ROH’s internet pay-per-views has more wrestling for half the price of WWE and TNA shows.

So with that being said, welcome back to The Wrestling Times! ROH took center stage this weekend, crowned new champions, and showcased some blockbuster match-ups. So let’s get right down to it an discuss… you guessed it… WRESTLING!

Emotions ran high on Friday Night as Charlie Haas (with the Haas of Pain) and Shelton Benjamin defeated Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli to become the new ROH World Tag Team Champions. Haas and Benjamin came to Ring of Honor because they wanted to get back to their roots, they wanted to wrestle. And though they were The (Self-Proclaimed) World’s Greatest Tag Team back in the WWE, they proved to the wrestling fans and, most importantly, to themselves that they are Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team.

The Kings of Wrestling had reigned as the champs for an astounding 363 days, since winning them at “The Big Bang!” internet pay-per-view against The Briscoe Brothers. The Kings had honorably defended those belts against such top caliber teams as The Motor City Machine Guns, The American Wolves, The All Night Express, Colt Cabana and El Generico, Kevin Steen and Steve Corino, and, of course, Jay and Mark Briscoe. In their tenth title defense, they lost the belts to Haas and Benjamin, but it was lost in one helluva match.

But not everyone left in high spirits from Friday’s show, as “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels failed to capture the ROH World Title to accompany his ROH World Television Title. Eddie Edwards was successful in his first title defense since winning the belt two weeks ago at “Manhattan Mayhem IV” in NYC. With the wrestling fans split on their decision on who should win, these two left everything in the ring, and the fans on their feet. Yet, after failing to put away Edwards with Angel’s Wings and the BME, Daniels emotions grew to that of desperation. Edwards capitalized on Daniels’ vulnerability with two Die Hard cross-legged Fisherman Busters (one from off the top turnbuckle) to put away the challenger. And the story directly after was Christopher Daniels refusing to honor the Code of Honor.

The Hunt still continues for Davey Richards, who some have said to be the next World Champ. On Friday night, Davey and Roderick Strong, accompanied by Truth Martini, had a rematch from “Final Battle 2010.” This time, the result was the opposite, as Richards (after knocking out Truth) forced Strong to submit in the middle of the ring. However, Strong is no longer the champion, which makes the victory less fulfilling.

Just a few hours ago, Jim Cornette stated that Davey Richards had an unfortunate situation, having suffered a third degree concussion, at Final Battle, but since then, hasn’t lost a match. Therefore, Cornette stirred the pot (though he claims he wasn’t) by attempting to book Davey Richards in a World Title match against Eddie Edwards. On the day that The American Wolves would reunite to take on the new ROH World Tag Champs in a non-title bout, putting doubts into the friendship of Richards and Edwards is never a good thing. Davey refused the challenge because he stated that it was Eddie’s time, which then had Edwards thinking that Davey thinks he could beat him. The Champ then brought up that not for nothing, he beat him the last time for the TV Title, so who’s to say that his reign as the World Champion would end?

The main event to conclude ROH taking center stage in Atlanta, Georgia, was the new ROH World Tag Team Champions Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin against the ROH World Champion Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards. More than seven years removed from holding championship gold, Haas and Benjamin, now holding gold, proved to the wrestling fans that they were not just a special attraction as they tore down the house with The American Wolves. Especially the final moments, for which, if anyone saw the match can attest to, the mirage of Stereo German Suplexes executed between all four men was incredible, ending the exchange with Stereo roll overs by The Wolves only to get a 2-count. The Wolves then proceeded with Edwards’ Achilles lock on Haas, and Ricards’ Ankle lock on Benjamin. But in the end, it was Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team that left with the victory and all four men knelt down in the center of the ring and embraced the other for a phenomenal match. Honor indeed took center stage in Atlanta, Georgia.

Afterwards, some heated words between Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards may grant Jim Cornette the golden opportunity to book that Championship match.

The other big story to leave Ring of Honor today was Christopher Daniels joining The House of Truth. From main event one night to upper midcard bout the next, “The Fallen Angel” destroyed HoT’s Michael Elgin during the first half of the show. Then, after a miraculous win for El Generico against Roderick Strong in their “SoCal Showdown II” Rematch, Daniels made the surprise heel turn by assisting Strong, Truth, and Elgin in attacking both Generico and Colt Cabana, who came to his friend’s aid. Fans were extremely vocal over the turn of Christopher Daniels, but if you have ever been to a Ring of Honor show, you know that it wasn’t PG.

Of course, “Honor Takes Center Stage” had plenty of other great match-ups including Mark and Jay Briscoe against The All Night Express, Kings of Wrestling against Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly, Colt Cabana against Dave Taylor, and Homicide against Tommaso Ciampa, but I want to talk about the Women of Honor matches before ending this post.

On Friday night, “The Queen of Wrestling” Sara Del Rey and Serena Deeb lost to Joshi wrestlers Hiroyo Matsumoto and Ayumi Kurihara in a preliminary match to the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship match held on Saturday. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Ayumi Kurihara have wrestled on SHIMMER Women Athletes for the past few volumes. Matsumoto is a former SHIMMER Tag Team Champion with Misaki Ohata, losing the belts to the current champions Daizee Haze and Tomoka Nakagawa. Since winning the belts with Nakagawa, Daizee has become quite the rule breaker, emulating the behavior of her partner.

Now, this is the first time that I have seen these Joshi wrestlers, so if you are lost by the names, you are not alone. But from the few times that I have seen Japanese women wrestlers, they have always amazed me, and that was no different from these two Women of Honor matches. Matsumoto is freakishly strong, and has a love for dealing out punishment. The image that has stayed with me is Haze and Ayumi wrapped around the upper body of Matsumoto, who drops knee first into the gut of Nakagawa. Incredible! Despite Kurihara and Matsumoto the clear favorites to win, Nakagawa and Haze stole the victory and retained their championships.

That’s it for this post. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and watch ROH’s “Honor Takes Center Stage” available for purchase from GoFightLive.tv.

And most importantly, please subscribe, tell a friend, add The Wrestling Times to your favorites either on your computer or your mobile devices. Follow me on Twitter @WrestlingTimesX for quick rants that I will be too lazy to post on this site. Oh, and RT everything I say because it’s golden.

WWE were not the only game in town this past Saturday as Ring of Honor Wrestling proudly presented Manhattan Mayhem IV at the Manhattan Center. The show featured two must-see main events as Eddie Edwards challenged Roderick Strong for the ROH World Championship, and Davey Richards and Christopher Daniels had their second encounter in a Pure Rules Match.

The card also boasted a Dream Non-Title Tag Team Match between The Kings of Wrestling’s Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli against The Latin American X-change’s Homicide and Hernandez. The two teams–multi-time tag team champions–offered great tag team wrestling. There was even an exhibition of strength between the teams’ strong men as Castagnoli hoisted Hernadez for the UFO backbreaker rack airplane spin with no hands, and Hernandez lifted Castagnoli for a 30+ second delayed vertical. However, despite near-fall after near-fall, LAX were unable to pick up the victory for a future title shot.

Since paying farewell to seasoned vets Austin Aries and Kevin Steen this past year, Ring of Honor is now brimming with top prospects, mostly stemming from its wrestling school The ROH Academy. Among the prospects were: Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Michael Elgin, Mike Mondo (former Spirit Squad member Mikey), Grizzly Redwood, Tommaso Ciampa, and “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett all taking up the first half of the card. Cole and O’Reilly continued to impress wrestling fans by scoring the pin-fall over the much larger duo of Elgin and Mondo (who was destroyed afterwards by his tag team partner). Redwood and Ciampa had an excruciatingly hard-to-watch match, that had the NYC fans pleading for it to end. Then, “The Prodigy” Mike Bennet, the winner of The Young Prospect Tournament on HDNet, forced Steve Corino to wrestle him by droning on and on the same insult, “C’mon, old man!” The reason why Corino was so reluctant to wrestle was because he’s guilt-ridden over costing Kevin Steen his job with ROH, and feels that by not wrestling, he’s atoning for his past actions. However, Corino’s lack of drive cost him the match, and granted him a post-match beat down.

Other matches on the card included The All-Night Express defeating Jay and Mark Briscoe, with a post-match brawl in favor of The Briscoe Brothers; and an exciting bout between El Generico and T.J. Perkins, with Generico dropping TJP with a Brainbuster, and the two respecting the Code of Honor afterwards.

The first main event of the night was the highly anticipated Richards vs. Daniels II. Nearly a year since Daniels returned to Ring of Honor at “The Big Bang” in April 2010, the night he confronted Richards about his intentions in Ring of Honor, the two have faced off only once in Chicago Ridge this past October with Davey getting the better of “The Fallen Angel.” Now, about five months later, with both men failing to unseat Roderick Strong for the World Title, Richards and Daniels faced off at The Manhattan Center in a Pure Rules Match, in preparation for their future World Title opportunities.

There are two distinct guidelines to Pure Rules: 1) Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls during the match. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal. 2) There are no closed-fist punches to the face allowed in a Pure match, only open-handed slaps or chops to the face are allowed. Punches to other parts of the body (save for low-blows) are permitted. The first use of a closed fist will get a warning, and the second will cause the wrestler to be penalized a rope break. If he is already out of rope breaks, he will be disqualified.

The match was everything to be expected, with each wrestler exhausting their rope breaks and unmercifully locking in submission holds within the ropes for added punishment. Daniels attempted to end the match with super Angel Wings from the top turnbuckle, but Richards evaded the move into an ankle lock. While the match was great in every way, the match almost took a tragic turn when Richards completely missed the ring during a Shooting Star Press. The move believed that would end the match, instead had Richards move to the side and landed belly first onto the ropes. Usually NYC fans are quick to blurt out “You F#%ked Up!” but the bizarre landing left fans silent until we were assured that he was alright. Richards quickly ended the match with a jack-knife roll over for his second victory over Christopher Daniels.

The main event of the night, and the top story to break out of NYC, was Eddie Edwards defeating Roderick Strong to become the new ROH World Champion. Davey Richards, the other half of the American Wolves, congratulated Edwards on becoming champion.

Edwards had earned this title match with his victory at “Survival of the Fittest 2010” back in November. On that night, he suffered a severe shoulder separation during his match with Chris Hero. Despite ROH Officials and doctors pleading that he not compete, Edwards returned to the finals and defeated Kenny King. If it were not for his pride and determination, NYC would not have witnessed this memorable moment.

Roderick Strong, who many had believed to be only a transitional champion, finally lost the belt in his sixth title defense (defeated Christopher Daniels, Davey Richards, Jay Briscoe, El Generico, and Homicide) since winning the belt at Glory By Honor IX. While many did not approve of his methods during his title reign, with constant assistance from Truth Martini and the House of Truth, Strong managed to hold up a close contest against Edwards.

As a former World Tag Team, and World TV champion, Edward’s ROH World Title victory marked him as the first Triple Crown Champion in ROH’s history.

ROH announcements: Manhattan Mayhem IV also marked ROH’s final show in The Grand Ballroom, as ROH will return, this time, to the Hammerstein Ballroom on Sunday June 26. Also, the next time ROH will be available on iPPV will be Friday April 1st and Saturday April 2nd with a pair of live shows dubbed “Honor Takes Center Stage” courtesy of GoFightLive.TV